Tissue-specific progenitor cells, also known as tissue-specific or adult stem cells, are rare populations of cells present in many adult tissues capable of differentiating into various cells specific to the tissue in which they reside. For example, hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are a rare population of cells inside the bone marrow that are responsible for generating all types of blood cells. Similar tissue-specific progenitor cells reside in other tissues, such as brain, heart, liver, and pancreas and can give rise to cells of their respective tissues. These cells hold great promise for clinical use to regenerate damaged or lost tissue. Clinical use has been hampered, in part, by an inability to isolate or produce sufficient numbers of tissue-specific progenitor cells suitable for clinical application. At present, HSCs are the only adult stem cells in clinical use, but their use is restricted by the limited availability of these cells. There is, thus, a need in the art for methods of producing tissue-specific progenitor cells in vitro that are suitable for clinical application.
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are the best-characterized example of tissue-specific progenitor cells. Successful engraftment of a small number of CD34+ HSCs can sustain hematopoiesis for a lifetime. The study of human hematopoiesis has been greatly advanced by the development of methods to generate HSCs from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) (Kaufman et al., PNAS 98(19):10716 (2001); Vodyanik et al., Blood 105(2):617(2005)). Effective methods of generating tissue-specific progenitor cells suitable for clinical use, such as HSCs, from hESCs could provide a novel source of progenitors for transplantation. In addition, hESC-derived tissue-specific progenitor cells can be used to produce various tissue cells that can be used for clinical and pharmaceutical research or can be administered to individuals in need thereof.
Unfortunately, currently available methods include culturing hESCs on murine bone marrow stromal cells, which is undesirable for preparing cells intended for clinical use (Nakano et al., Science 265(5175):1098 (1994)). Within the body, HSCs are maintained in an undifferentiated state within bone marrow microenvironments or “niches.” These HSC niches are thought to regulate survival, self-renewal, and maintenance of HSCs through growth factor and cytokine secretion, structural support, and direct cell-to-cell crosstalk. The cellular microenvironment is comprised of various cell types in the bone marrow stromal including mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), vascular endothelial cells, and reticular cells.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are fibroblast-like cells that reside within virtually all tissues and organs of a postnatal individual and can differentiate into cells of the mesenchymal lineage, such as osteoblasts, adipocytes, and chondrocytes. MSCs have been isolated from bone marrow, adipose tissue, heart, pancreas, liver, kidney, and other tissues. Tarnok et al., Cytometry 77(1):6-10 (2010). Within the bone marrow niche, MSCs support survival, proliferation, and differentiation of HSCs and their progeny through a variety of mechanisms, such as by producing extracellular matrix components for structural support and by secreting growth factors and cytokines that support HSC maintenance and proliferation. Long-term bone marrow cultures demonstrated the importance of MSCs in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell maintenance ex vivo and MSCs have provided invaluable tools for investigating the stem cell niche in both normal and malignant hematopoiesis. Human MSCs can support hESC expansion in vitro (Cheng et al., Stem Cells 21:131 (2003)).
Apart from MSCs, a wide variety of other cell types contribute to normal bone marrow function. For example, osteoblasts, which are differentiated progeny of MSCs, are critical in HSC niche maintenance while adipocytes, also differentiated progeny of MSCs, are negative regulators of hematopoiesis.
Macrophages are present in almost all tissues and are essential to innate immunity. Like other hematopoietic cells, macrophages originate from a bone marrow progenitor cell that first gives rise to monocytes. Monocytes circulate in the peripheral blood and can give rise to macrophages after extravasating from the blood stream into the surrounding tissue, either to replace long-lived tissue macrophages or in response to injury. Gordon, European J Immunol. 37 Suppl 1:S9-17 (2007). Within the tissue, macrophages can be polarized by their microenvironment to assume different phenotypes. Stout et al., J. Immunol. 175:342-349 (2005). For example, certain macrophages are essential for all stages of tissue repair including chemotaxis, matrix remodeling, epithelial migration, and angiogenesis (Pollard, Nature Rev. 9:259-270 (2009)).
The data on macrophage involvement in hematopoiesis are conflicting. Macrophages have been implicated in erythropoiesis. Transmission electron micrographs showed erythroblasts surrounding a central macrophage. Bessis and Breton-Gorius, Blood 19:635-663 (1962). These “erythroblastic islands” play a crucial role in normal erythroid development by providing iron for heme synthesis and erythropoietin for erythropoiesis to developing erythroblasts. Abnormal erythroblastic islands are associated with altered erythropoiesis of pathological processes such as anemia of inflammation and chronic disease, myelodysplasia, and thalassemias. Chasis et al., Blood. 112:470-478 (2008). In all these conditions, the role of macrophages has been assumed to be restricted to erythropoiesis.
In contrast, recent studies suggest that monocytes and macrophages negatively affect in vitro expansion of HSC and hematopoiesis (Yang et al., Bone Marrow Transplant. 45(6):1000 (2010); Jaiswal et al., Cell 138:271 (2009)). A recent study suggests that HSCs respond to inflammatory stimuli and upregulate CD47, which then interacts with macrophage receptors to evade macrophage-mediated destruction among the toxic inflammatory milieu. Thus, the role of macrophages as a direct-acting component of the HSC niche was unknown prior to the inventors' work. Further, it was not known whether MSCs and macrophages interact and whether such interactions affect survival and proliferation of HSCs.
While HSCs have been studied extensively, little is known about tissue-specific progenitor cells of other tissues. Until recently, it was believed that the heart and brain contained only terminally differentiated cells unable to proliferate. However, recent studies identified a subpopulation of cells in the heart, brain, and other organs that are able to proliferate and repopulate damaged or destroyed tissues. There is a great need in the art for methods for enhancing proliferation of these cells in vivo or in vitro.
Interactions between macrophages and tumor cells in hematological malignancies, with the exception of follicular lymphoma, are not well understood. Recent studies suggest that macrophages can promote angiogenesis in multiple myeloma (MM), the second most commonly diagnosed hematological malignancy in the developed world. Also, macrophages might protect myeloma cells from spontaneous and chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. Zheng et al., Blood 22; 114(17):3625-3628 (2009). However, the role of BM macrophages as a direct-acting component in the MM tumor niche has not been recognized. Further, it has not been investigated if MSCs-macrophage interaction affects survival and proliferation of MM cells. The multitude of cellular compartments and the broad constellation of growth factors and cytokines involved in the MM tumor niche pose significant therapeutic challenges. Targeting any individual molecular or cell mediator of the MM BM milieu is not sufficient for curative responses due to functional redundancy supporting MM cell survival. New models to investigate the functional hierarchy of the BM microenvironment are necessary to devise effective therapeutic strategies.
Prior to the inventors' work, it was unknown whether cellular interaction of MSCs with another cell type can affect function of a third cell type. Prior to the inventors' work, it was further unknown whether the origin of the MSC affects the quality of interaction with, and subsequent fate of, another cell.